He averaged 14th place over that span with 2 wins (Bristol and Atlanta) last year. That would have been enough for WC2 (Gordon only had 1 win).

It gets much easier if he can run a lap in the car at, say, Talladega and Richmond and get the points of where the relief driver finishes. He'll start a lap down, but should be able to get top 20-30 finish in the 11. Also, running top 5 and not finishing all the laps at Bristol and Fontana make this harder.

Still no news of Denny's substitute. JGR apparently wants a single driver to fill all five races, but Vickers is committed to MWR for a race Mark Martin isn't running in the 55, and Martin is otherwise in the 55. Sadler, the rumored choice, isn't at the top of their list. Still trying to work out sponsor acceptablity.

I would rather see Mark Martin in the car. He might just win a race filling in. Don't think that's happened since Jamie McMurray subbed for Sterling Marlin in the 40 car in 2002.

Martinsville truck race.... didn't see a whit of it but Johnny Sauter won again. I think Harvick was in the race. Ward Burton's son Jeb led over 150 laps of the 250, looks like he was passed for the win with 17 to go on the final restart.

Very impressive race by Danica so far at one of the toughest tracks on the circuit. Lead lap P20 after starting 42nd. She's continually racing Bifle for position.

JGR continues to establish itself as the class of the field this year. 18 and 20 racing with the 48 for the lead all day. Martin struggling in the 11. A big wreck on a restart really wounded a bunch of nice cars after Jr. spun the tires and someone got in the back.

Unlike last year, I am really impressed with Jr. this year. Last year, all four Hendrick cars were at the front of the field every race. This year, Jr. has raced better than the 5 and 24, at least before the wreck today.

Danica finishes P12. Unbelievable, really, for her first race ever at the track. She finishes ahead of Harvick and Stewart.

Coming to the checkers, Vicker gave Danica a real hard bump (had to reword that a bunch of times) to gain a position. After the checkered flag, Harvick spins Vickers in apparent retaliation for Danica's bump. Then Vickers-Harvick mess with each other coming down pit road. Pretty interesting.

48 was a real nice teammate today. Probably cost the 88 several positions, and the chance to have been the lucky dog on the Kurt Busch yellow. 48 was going to run away with it anyway, everyone else held up behind him, there was no reason to trap the 88 down a 2nd lap there. As it were, looks like only a single car was scored 1 lap down, so if they hadn't been the lucky dog at Kurt's incident, that's only 1 point lost.

88 was pretty strong early in runs today but could not hold it. Somehow Fox has him leading 1 lap but I don't think that's true - I don't think I recalled seeing him higher than 5th. In the end, 3rd in points only 12 back after 6 races is not too shabby. A win somewhere in there would catch that right back up.

Predictably, Jemele Hill (I'm sure she is a close follower of NASCAR) wrote an article critical about the NRA 500 tonight. Who gives a flying ****. Most people that actually follow the sport could care less who sponsors each race, they just want to see some action. I love seeing horrific "journalists" like her voice their pointless opinion on it. NASCAR is already perceived by many as a sport for backwoods rednecks, I'm sure an NRA-sponsored race is going to be sooooooooooooooooooo damaging to the brand

Denny reports he is 50/50 to start and finish Richmond. He's also 100% to start Talladega and give way to Vickers. So, he'll be 1-2 weeks of points ahead of the initial five-race prognosis, which would have put him back in the car at Darlington. This really helps his Chase chances, especially given that he could very well win Richmond.

dang. Keselowski causes the final caution, in the middle of green flag stops. Costs Stenhouse the race for sure, and likely cost the 88 and 24 and 99 top 5s. No pass for the lead on the final restart or after - out pits first out front first. Kahne got close but no cigar.

Oh, and Keselowski still finished 6th, even after losing his whole back bumper.

relantel wrote:dang. Keselowski causes the final caution, in the middle of green flag stops. Costs Stenhouse the race for sure, and likely cost the 88 and 24 and 99 top 5s. No pass for the lead on the final restart or after - out pits first out front first. Kahne got close but no cigar.

Oh, and Keselowski still finished 6th, even after losing his whole back bumper.

Kenseth's car was sufficiently stout that he may have caught Stenhouse, but I agree he had built a decent gap. I have no idea why they didn't make Keselowski come down pit road with his car in the condition it was, but I am also very impressed that he finished 8th. Logano, on the other hand, dropped from 9 to 20th after the points penalties and DNF.

If Denny starts the next two races, he will no doubt be in the top 20 by the time the Chase field is settled. He need only win a race or two. As such, it was really beneficial that Stenhouse did not win, as he will likely be competing for one of those two wild cards. Indeed, Hamlin really needs guys like Kes, Johnson, Kenseth, and Busch to keep winning races. Every time someone like Ambrose or Stenhouse wins, it hurts Hamlin. Stewart will also likely be competing for a wild card, as will maybe Gordon and Harvick. I can only see Menard certainly following out of the top ten.

Finally, JGR has now won 4/8 (4/7 non-plate) race this year. I think they've definitely had the best cars so far.

Not good. The last failed engine resulted in $200,000 fine, an equivalent of 50 points under the new points system, and a 12 week (later reduced to 8 week) CC suspension. That would be brutal. Moreover, while Kenseth would keep the win, NASCAR could prohibit him from using it as bonus points or WC, which means he essentially wouldn't get the win.

The silver lining is the light rod might have been a quality control issue that did not give him a competitive advantage and the at least 3 JGR engines have already passed inspection this year (Kenseth at LV, Busch at Fontana, and Busch at Texas).

TheHammer24 wrote:Not good. The last failed engine resulted in $200,000 fine, an equivalent of 50 points under the new points system, and a 12 week (later reduced to 8 week) CC suspension. That would be brutal. Moreover, while Kenseth would keep the win, NASCAR could prohibit him from using it as bonus points or WC, which means he essentially wouldn't get the win.

The silver lining is the light rod might have been a quality control issue that did not give him a competitive advantage and the at least 3 JGR engines have already passed inspection this year (Kenseth at LV, Busch at Fontana, and Busch at Texas).

Edwards at Cali a few years ago was like that (or was it Vegas)? took a penalty that also denied the bonus points but kept the win.

On Wednesday, Kenseth was docked 50 points, stripped of his pole position award (which won't count toward making him eligible for next year's Sprint Unlimited preseason exhibition) and his first-place finish in the STP 400 won't count for bonus points toward the Chase for the Sprint Cup if the Joe Gibbs Racing driver makes the 10-race title playoff.

NASCAR also suspended crew chief Jason Ratcliff for six races and fined him $200,000 and placed him on probation through Dec. 31. Joe Gibbs also was docked 50 points as a car owner and had his owner's license for the No. 20 suspended for the next six races. Toyota also lost five points in the manufacturer standings.